Why did Maldonado take UFC 153 fight with Teixeira? 'No time left to play around'

RIO DE JANEIRO – Fabio Maldonado is just 32 years old, which is rather youthful in most industries.

But when you punch people in the face for a living, time no longer is on your side.

That’s why Maldonado, who still aspires to hold a UFC title someday, stepped up and took what so many others wouldn’t: a UFC 153 bout with fast-rising light-heavyweight contender Glover Teixeira.

“I’m already 32 years old, so I’ve got no more time left to play around,” Maldonado told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

Following recently competitive but losing bouts with Kyle Kingsbury and Igor Pokrajac, Maldonado (18-5 MMA, 1-2 UFC) meets Teixeira (18-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) at Saturday’s UFC 153 event at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. They fight on the pay-per-view main card following prelims on FX and Facebook.

Teixeira initially was slated to fight Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the night’s co-headliner, but the former champion bowed out of the event due to an injury. Maldonado, a fellow Brazilian, then took a fight few others were willing to.

Many of his fellow fighters see it as a lose-lose situation. Despite Teixeira’s current 16-fight win streak (which includes 13 first-round stoppages), they argue he doesn’t have the name recognition to really warrant the gamble. And a loss makes it an insurmountable hit to their contender status.

Maldonado, who’s quite familiar with his opponent’s body of work, calls it hogwash.

“I don’t want to be just another guy in the UFC,” he said. “I want to be a champion, and to do that, I need to fight the best. He’s one of the best fighters, but on Saturday, he’s going down.”

The fighters have a history that goes back years. When an initial matchup didn’t materialize on the regional circuit – and then a second couldn’t be booked for UFC 134 a few years later – Maldonado knew the third time would be a charm. And besides, he said, he has something to prove.

“I’ve always wanted to fight him,” he said. “He’s someone who called me out for a fight a long time ago, but it was at a time when I fought four fights in five weeks. In the first one, I hurt myself. It was three MMA and one boxing (bouts), and in the first one of them, I got hurt, so I couldn’t do it.

“We then were going to fight at UFC Rio 2 (UFC 134), but now’s the day. The time has come.”

A total of 15 Brazilians fight on Saturday’s card, and in the fight-crazed country, they’re treated like rock stars. (Just ask the American fighters, who have entered recent UFC-Brazil events to chants of “You’re going to die!”).

Maldonado vs. Teixeira is one of three all-Brazilian matchups on the card. And Maldonado doesn’t know if they’re cheer for him or for Teixeira, a man he plans to supplant as the new hot hand in the division. But he said he’s not concerned.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “It’s just going to be me, him and the referee in there.”

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